West Notes: Morales, Kemp, Sandoval, Baker

Agent Scott Boras says he'll talk to the Angels about signing Kendrys Morales, writes the Los Angeles Times' Bill Shaikin. The Angels say they are not interested, however, because they need to rebuild a depleted minor league system and they would have to forfeit their first-round draft choice to sign Morales. "We're much more comfortable with the idea of maintaining our first-round pick and continuing to build the organization in a much more positive way," General Manager Jerry Dipoto said.

In an interview on MLB Network (Twitter link), Dodgers GM Ned Colletti attemped to throw water on Matt Kemp trade rumors, saying that L.A. is higher on the outfielder than anyone.

Pablo Sandoval's brother, Michael, has recently been certified as an agent and will join his current agent, Gustavo Vazquez, in representing him, writes Hank Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. If the Giants want to discuss an extension, Michael says that his team will listen. Yesterday, GM Brian Sabean indicated that they'd be open to a new deal if he comes to spring training in shape.

The Giants say they haven't talked to Jeff Baker's agent in a little over a week, tweets Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com.

Giants vice president Bobby Evans tells Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com (on Twitter) that the club would like to sign a left fielder tonight. Baggarly hears that they like Franklin Gutierrez.

Rockies manager Walt Weiss says that they have talked to Carlos Gonzalez about possibly playing center field and they think he might be able to manage it, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post (via Sulia).

Shouldn’t the Rockies have figured out a little more conclusively who would be playing CF before trading their starting CF for peanuts? The lack of a plan is what bugs me the most about my team. It’s basically like let’s throw it against a wall and see what sticks.

The only way Colletti knows that LA is higher on Matt Kemp than anyone else is that he was shopping him and wasn’t able to get a proper return. If all 4 outfielders are doing well at the deadline, and someone comes with a proper return, my guess is they deal him.

If Matt Kemp is doing well at the deadline, and the Dodgers are in contention, why would they trade him at that point?

With Hanley Ramirez hurt and Yasiel Puig slumping during the NLCS, the Dodgers really needed another right-handed bat in their lineup to stand a chance against the Cardinals. If Matt Kemp is healthy and the Dodgers are in contention they’d have little/no incentive to move him at the deadline. Maybe next off-season. Maybe. But with their outfield depth (Pederson) being left-handed, the Dodgers would be much better off trading Ethier or Crawford (plus salary relief) for a lesser return.

If everyone is reasonably healthy and Pederson looks ready for his audition, I can see them trading one of the outfielders in July. I agree it’s much more likely to be Ethier or Crawford, not just because they are both lefties, but because someone still needs to play center, and it’s much easier to come up with depth at the corners.

Right. Colletti dangles the Kemp hook to find out what other teams are after, what they are willing to give up. All useful information. They were never serious about trading him. Once it becomes obvious the game is up.

So Michael is Pablo’s off-season trainer & his agent…..
That makes sense why Pablo started his “Operation Panda winter slim-down” earlier than usual this year. With $ as a motivator-This might actually work for him.